On May 14, 2026, Marla Gale and four of her five children were in a devastating car crash. A semi-truck collided with their minivan, and the impact left Marla in critical condition and took the life of her 13-year-old son, Parker.
While Marla calls the accident “horrific” and acknowledges that her grief may never be fully “done,” she says she has found a renewed sense of joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The joy didn’t come immediately, but Marla testified that following the words of a prophet helped her to experience Christ’s sustaining grace on an even deeper level.
“Does This Even Work Right Now?”
Recently on the All In podcast, Marla shared that while she was in the hospital, someone sent her the following quote from President Russell M. Nelson: “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.”
Although this is one of Marla’s favorite quotes (she even has it displayed in her home’s entryway), she questioned whether it could apply to her circumstances at the time:
“I had this moment with God where I was like, ‘God, this is not a normal circumstance. Does this even work right now?’
“And I felt him say, ‘Prove me.’
“And I thought, ‘I would love for You to be right.’ Because everything I’d heard about grief … sounded dark and sad and stuck, and I didn’t want to be any of those things.”
So, deciding to put President Nelson’s words to the ultimate test, Marla looked for opportunities to testify of Christ. And on days when it was difficult to feel joy, Marla changed her focus and prayed for opportunities to talk about the Savior.
She says the results of this experiment were unmistakable:
“I have seen the clearest pattern: How my day goes is directly connected to how much I get to talk about Jesus that day. … He delivers those experiences. And I mean, how could He not?
“I’ve noticed that if I focus on Him in my thoughts and in my words and what I’m doing, I do feel joy, which isn’t something that I knew could happen as I’m grieving this unimaginable tragedy.”
Marla also says she’s realized there’s no caveat to the principle that we are meant to experience joy. “That’s what I’ve learned, is even in the middle of the hardest thing, God is still there, and He still is wanting us to feel joy as we navigate it.”
Learn more about Marla’s story by listening to the full All In episode, available on your favorite streaming platforms.
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